A vocal individual in our local political scene, former Reform Party (RP) chairman Charles Yeo unexpectedly announced on Sunday (31 Jul) that he would be seeking political asylum in the UK.
In the process, however, the 31-year-old breached the terms of the approval that allowed him to travel in the first place.
Source: @charlesyeoreformparty on Twitter
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has since issued a gazette for Charles Yeo’s arrest. They are currently working with foreign law enforcement counterparts to locate him.
Citing a news release on 1 Aug, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that the Singapore police has issued a gazette for the arrest of the former RP chairman.
Source: The Reform Party on Facebook
Yeo, who was out on bail at the time of his abscondment, has six charges against him.
On 20 Jul, the former politician who’s also reportedly a legal assistant, obtained permission from the State Courts to travel to Vietnam from 27 to 30 Jul for work.
A day before his departure, Yeo reported to the investigation officer (IO) to collect his passport and provide his travel itinerary, as well as additional bail.
The condition for his travel was that he had to report to the IO on Monday (1 Aug) at 6pm to surrender his passport after returning to Singapore.
However, Yeo failed to do so and was purportedly uncontactable.
In light of him breaching the terms of his travel application, SPF has issued a gazette for the 31-year-old’s arrest.
They will reportedly be working with law enforcement counterparts overseas to locate Yeo.
On Sunday (31 Jul), Yeo announced via Instagram that he will be seeking political asylum in the UK — a decision he described as “very painful and difficult” to make.
Besides reporting to his IO, Yeo was also due to turn up in court on 1 Aug to represent a client in a trial involving immigration-related matters, reports The Straits Times.
Unsurprisingly, he failed to show up for that trial.
In his Instagram posts, Yeo shared that many people close to him were unaware of the moves. These include his girlfriend, close friends, and lawyers.
Yeo also stated that he had met RP’s Secretary-General Kenneth Jeeyaretnam and an undisclosed British Member of Parliament (MP) in the UK. He had apparently spoken with Mr Lee Hsien Yang too.
Whatever may have motivated Yeo’s decisions, it was wrong of him to breach the terms of his travel application.
He had agreed to them after all, so it’s a breach of trust. Hopefully, he will find a way to cooperate with the authorities.
Till then, let’s also hope that the clients Yeo is helping will receive the assistance they need in his absence.
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Featured image adapted from zaobaosg on YouTube.
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